Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 September 2011
104 Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has plans to extend the hours allocated for a special needs assistant at a school (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25462/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. This now includes a requirement for the NCSE to have regard to an overall cap on the number of SNA posts.
The NCSE has now advised all mainstream schools, including the school referred to by the Deputy in Meadowbrook, of their SNA allocation for the current school year, taking into account the care needs of qualifying pupils attending the school.
I wish to clarify that the recruitment and deployment of SNAs within schools are matters for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.
10,575 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts are being provided for SNA support for the coming school year. This is a significant number of posts and unlike other areas of the public sector vacancies are being filled up to this number.
It is considered that with equitable and careful management and distribution of these resources that there should be sufficient posts to provide access to SNA support for all children who require such care support to attend school, in accordance with Departmental criteria.
The NCSE will advise schools early in the new school year of any review process to review allocation decisions to ensure that correct procedures were followed and that they comply with my Department's policy. The merits of individual allocation decisions will not be open to appeal under this mechanism.
It will be expected that schools, before requesting a review, will be in a position to demonstrate that they have made every effort to manage their allocation of SNA posts to best effect.
105 Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a home tuition grant will be made available to a child (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25467/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will be aware that my Department's home tuition scheme provides funding to parents to provide education at home for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme was extended in recent years to facilitate tuition for children awaiting a suitable educational placement and also to provide early educational intervention for pre-school children with autism.
Allocation of home tuition for the school year is subject to applicants meeting the eligibility criteria. My Department has no record of receiving a home tuition application for the child in question.
The Deputy will be aware that the NCSE is responsible for the provision of a range of educational services at local and national level for students with special educational needs. In particular, its network of Special Education Needs Organisers (SENOs) co-ordinates special needs education provision at local level and arranges for the delivery of special educational services. The SENOs act as single points of contact for parents of students with special educational needs. Another specific function of the SENO is to identify appropriate educational placements for children with special educational needs and SENOs are a valuable source of support to parents who are actively sourcing a placement for their children.
